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Plot
Undertale takes place in the Underground, a massive subterranean cave to where monsters, who once lived harmoniously with humans on the surface, have been banished after losing a war with humanity. The Underground is sealed from the surface world by an uneven magic barrier created by humanity's most powerful wizards, the only point of entry being at Mount Ebott.12 A human child falls into the Underground and encounters Flowey, a sapient flower who teaches them the game's mechanics and encourages them to raise their "LV", or "LOVE", by gaining "EXP" through killing monsters.a When Flowey attempts to murder the human to take their soul for himself, the human is rescued by Toriel, a motherly goat-like monster, who teaches the human to solve puzzles and survive conflict in the Underground without killing. She intends to adopt the human, wanting to protect them from Asgore Dreemurr, the king of the Underground. The human eventually leaves Toriel to search for Asgore's castle, which contains the path (blocked by the barrier) leading to the surface world. Along the way, the human encounters several monsters, including: the skeletons Sans and Papyrus, two brothers who act as sentries for the Underground; Undyne, the head of the royal guard; Alphys, the kingdom's royal scientist; and Mettaton, a robotic television host Alphys built. Some of them are fought, with the human having to choose whether to kill them or to show mercy; should the human spare them, they become friends. During their travels, the human learns the details and the cause of the war between humans and monsters, as well as the backstory of Asriel, the son of Asgore and Toriel. Asriel had befriended a human child named Charab who fell into the Underground and was adopted by Asgore and Toriel. One day, Chara fatally poisoned themself by drinking a tisane made from poisonous buttercup flowers, in a bid to have themself absorbed by Asriel in order to fulfill their plan of freeing the monsters by collecting six additional souls from the surface, which would then be used with Chara's soul to break the barrier. Asriel absorbed Chara's soul, and crossed the barrier, but from there refused to carry out the plan any further, instead deciding to attempt to return Chara's body to their home village. He was killed by humans who thought he killed Chara, as he refused to defend himself out of his pacifistic ideology. With both of his children dead, Asgore declared another war on humanity, and continued Chara's plan, seeking to break the barrier by killing any human who falls into the Underground to collect seven human souls, of which he currently has six. There are three major divergent paths in the game's ending, depending on how the player resolves encounters with monsters: the Neutral run, the Pacifist run, and the Genocide run.814 The default Neutral run occurs if the player has killed some but not all of the monsters, or has not killed any monsters. The Neutral run has over twelve variations depending on which monsters were killed. In general, in the Neutral run ending, the human arrives at Asgore's castle and learns that they also need a monster's soul to cross the barrier, forcing them to fight Asgore. Sans stops the human before their confrontation, revealing that the human's "LOVE" is an acronym for "L'evel '''O'f 'V'iolenc'''E" and "EXP" for "'EX'ecution 'P'oints." Sans judges the human based on the combined resolution of the encounters. The human fights and defeats Asgore. However, Flowey sneaks in, kills Asgore, steals the human souls, and becomes a monstrous abomination called Photoshop Flowey. By calling out to the six souls for help, the human defeats Flowey, falls unconscious, and awakens on the human side of the barrier; they receive a phone call from Sans, explaining the state of the Underground after the human's departure. If the player does another Neutral run after completing it once, Flowey will not absorb the human souls, knowing that they would revolt again, and the player can skip his fight. The Pacifist run can only be performed after the player has completed one Neutral run through the game, and its ending only obtained by not killing any of the monsters during the run while befriending Papyrus and Undyne, and Alphys.1415 After befriending Alphys, the player discovers her true laboratory. It is revealed that Asriel was reincarnated as Flowey, created by Alphys as a vessel of determination (the power that allows the human and Flowey to save game files in order to resurrect) as well as an intended surprise for Asgore. The player then returns to fight Asgore, but Toriel intervenes and is joined by the other monsters the human has befriended. Flowey ambushes the group, using the souls of all the monsters to take an older Asriel's form to fight the human and initiate an Apocalypse. The human connects with their new friends during the fight, eventually triumphing. Asriel reverts to his child form and realizes to his dismay that the human is not Chara. The human tells him their real name, Frisk. Asriel expresses his remorse for all he has done, and uses the six human souls and all the monster souls to destroy the barrier. Asriel then says he will inevitably turn back into Flowey, and tells Frisk to leave him behind. Frisk falls unconscious, and awakens surrounded by their friends. The monsters reintegrate with the humans on the surface, while Frisk has the option of accepting Toriel as their adoptive mother or striking out on their own. Based on this choice, the Pacifist ending will differ: if the player chooses to stay with Toriel, a cutscene will play placing a slice of pie next to the bed of the sleeping human, and if the human chooses to leave, a sepia photograph is shown of the player and their friends. The Genocide run requires the player to kill all monsters and maximize their LOVE, intentionally triggering random encounters until they no longer occur.111514 As Frisk reaches Asgore's castle, Sans attempts to stop them, but Frisk kills him along with Asgore and Flowey. Chara materializes before the player after Flowey is killed and explains that they were resurrected by the player's LOVE. The player is then asked to join them in the destruction of the universe, which occurs regardless of the player's choice. Afterwards, the game will no longer be playable, but Chara will eventually offer to restore the universe in exchange for the player's soul after ten minutes. If the player accepts this deal, the game will be playable again; however, every subsequent Pacifist playthrough will end with Chara taking over Frisk's body.